Wortel is a village in the Belgian Kempen, near the Dutch border, and it is the Belgian member of a World Heritage group whose other two parts, Frederiksoord and Veenhuizen, lie in the Netherlands. The story begins in 1818, when a Dutch army officer, Johannes van den Bosch, founded the Society of Benevolence, an organisation with the grand idea of rescuing the urban poor by sending them to work on farms in the countryside. The first free colonies were founded in the Netherlands, at Frederiksoord, and in 1822 the society bought land at Wortel, then part of the same kingdom, and opened a colony there. When Belgium split away in 1830 the colony remained in Belgian territory.
The settlers were given a house, a plot of land and a cow, in return for working and living under strict rules, and many struggled on the poor sandy soil. Later the colonies became centres for orphans, vagrants and beggars, and the buildings grew into large institutions. In Wortel, the layout of fields, straight roads and brick farmhouses still follows the original plan, and the colony is a quiet, planned landscape in a region of heath, pine and farmland.
Hoogstraten, a few kilometres away, is the nearby town, known for its strawberries and for a huge Gothic church, with a tower that dominates the plain. The country here is flat and sandy, with straight roads between fields of strawberries, asparagus and nurseries growing trees and shrubs. Riding is easy but not thrilling, though the roads are generally good and traffic is light. Cyclists are numerous, and on summer weekends the cycle routes are crowded. Winter fog and spring rain are normal, and the smell of pine and damp earth is strong.
Hoogstraten has about eighteen thousand people, with fuel, supermarkets and cafes, and the Dutch border at Baarle is close. Try the local strawberries in season, and a Belgian beer in a village cafe. Antwerp is an easy ride away. The best seasons are spring, when the orchards flower, and summer, when the long evenings invite a slow ride.